Day 2: Uterga to Cirauqui - 14.8k

Another stunningly beautiful walk today.  Scotch broom, poppies, vineyards, dancing wheat. So many wildflowers. There was one very steep climb but with fine, sunny but cool walking weather, it was an enjoyable challenge  

I think I have 50 days total to walk—one for each year of my life. So today while walking, I tried thinking about being 2. I don’t have any strong memories from that time. I know what my basic circumstances were. It will get easier to think about particular years as the days pass.  I like thinking about the walking through that lens, though.  My 30th year was my hardest.  I wonder what that day’s walk will look like!

When I was little—not sure exactly what age—someone trained me to rub my legs and proclaim, “I have niiiice legs and cute feet!”  Young people can and should be convinced to like their bodies and brag about them.  I wonder at what age that stops being so straightforward. I get frustrated with my too wide feet and my too big legs. Reminds me of this poem  

Here on the Camino, I have to appreciate my niiice legs and cute feet anew.  I have to celebrate my body for what it can do and also be gentle with myself about what I can’t do.  I’ve been duct taping a couple of hotspots to prevent rubbing.  And due to the combined magic of weight training and physical therapy, I’m feeling pretty strong and unsore overall.  I’ve purposely started with low mileage days so that I can be kind to my feet and body. I am hoping to increase my mileage at some point, probably when my friend Mi-Suk arrives next week. I saw some folks who have not been gentle with their bodies at the beginning, and they are suffering  

I’m surprised and pleased that my feet and my Spanish are holding up equally well.  Due to some lessons online with my Guatemalan Spanish teacher during the pandemic, my conversational Spanish is reasonably strong. I have niiice verbs and cute nouns. Or so I can keep telling myself.  I can chat with barkeeps and pharmacists with ease. It’s one of the many pleasures of being here: interacting with new people in a different language. It feels so magical when words pop out of my mouth that I didn’t even know I knew, such fun to banter with local folks.